Florey's book signing Once blind, author Meir Schneider teaches how to improve vision

Meir Schneider writes in the introduction of his book, "Vision for Life — Ten Steps to Natural Eyesight Improvement," that he was originally going to title his book, "From Blindness to Vision." The reason being he was born blind, but through years of effort and exploration, he taught himself to see. (Today he can read, write, and drive a car.) But Schneider wanted to make sure that readers did not think this book was just for the blind or those with severe vision impairment. He wanted to also reach those without vision impairment, to teach them how to continue to keep their eyes visually healthy. Schneider will be at Florey's Book Co. on Saturday to discuss his book and sign copies.

Born in "Stalinist Soviet Union," Schneider had cataracts in both eyes at birth. His parents, who were both deaf, decided to move their family from Russia to Israel for a better life. They stopped in Poland on their way. Meir would have five surgeries performed on his eyes, one in Poland, the rest in Israel. The surgeries left 99 percent scar tissue on his eyes, allowing no light to get through. He was issued a blind certificate by the state of Israel. He was raised reading braille. But young Meir always felt he would find a way to liberate himself from his blindness. Such thinking was given no support by his doctors or his family.

How did he communicate with his parents?

Advertisement

"My parents read my lips," Schneider said. "My mother's voice was fairly clear. However, my father's was like a leaky faucet. Their voices were not normal but I was able to mostly understand what they said."

At age 17, Schneider discovered the Bates method, an alternative therapy that promotes relaxation as a solution to poor vision. The Bates method, which dates back to 1891, was disputed by a number of scientists in its earliest days.

"The scientists that disputed it never really learned it in depth," Schneider said. "It is a very good method because it responds to modern people's needs. For example, most people don't blink much when they use computers and read, and blinking is important for the eyes. The way it worked for me was with hard work and diligence. I spent as many as 13 hours a day for over four years, noticing the way my eye functions and improving the way that it works. For example, I was wearing dark lenses so people would not see the rapid eye movements I had (nystagmus), and I was very light sensitive. What I learned was to adjust my eyes to the sun by closing my eyes and moving my head from side to side. As I would face the sun my pupils would constrict and as I moved away they would expand. My iris muscles that were damaged by five unsuccessful cataract surgeries started to strengthen. I learned from a young age to not look at anything. My braille teacher would even tell me, 'Don't look at the braille, look away, you can't see anything anyway.' When I did the eye exercises, I did the exact opposite. I learned to look at objects. At first the whole world was like one big smear. But then I learned to distinguish between windows and walls, between windows and the air conditioners and slowly, started to separate between people and furniture. I diligently worked to see details. What I am seeing is that many people stop looking at details. The central part of the retina, called the macula, looks only at details. It is only a percent and a half of the total photoreceptors of the retina. By not looking at details, our vision becomes fuzzy, and then we lose the macula. Today I can drive. I will drive to the bookstore. And to think in the past, my grandmother and parents were admonished for not giving me a seeing eye dog. This process is powerful and useful, and beneficial."

Schneider attended the Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv, Israel as well as San Francisco State University. He received an external PhD from Golden State University. He studied philosophy as well as anatomy, physiology, and pathology. When he started college, his vision was 10 percent, today it is 70 percent.

Schneider opened the School for Self-Healing in 1984. Located in San Francisco, the school's mission is to train individuals to self-heal. The Meir Schneider method of self-healing is body-mind work. It is comprehensive and integrated, "combining movement education, therapeutic massage, self-massage, passive movement, gentle movement exercises, breathing, visualization, and vision training."

Before Schneider opened his school, he worked as a sole practitioner, sometimes in partnership with an optometrist. Did he always have it in mind that one day he would teach others about self-healing?

"No," Schneider said. "I was never sure that I could until I taught my second training course in 1980. Then I saw that people could really learn this, and I was so proud of them. It has made a great difference in many, many people's lives."

Married with two children, Schneider said it was difficult for him when both of his children were born with the same cataract condition that he had had.

"Medicine has much better answers nowadays then in my day," Schneider said. "They have learned that operating at the age of four is way too late. Now they operate at two weeks old. My two kids were lucky to be born in this reality. Most children who are operated on, on time, have 40 percent vision, much better than my one percent. My kids now see 20/20 or better. That is a result of a combination of eye exercises and surgeries done on time."

Schneider's "Vision for Life" was published by North Atlantic Books (Berkeley, CA) in November of 2012. The book has brought him to various radio programs in the Bay Area, Washington, DC, New York, and elsewhere to discuss his work.

"The fact that more people than ever lose the clarity of their vision, causes me great pain," the author said in answer to why he wrote this book. "And more people than ever in human history have great pathologies of the eye. Unfortunately, medicine only deals with their symptoms and does not do anything about the cause of vision loss. I have a feeling that we need to work on vision improvement as prevention and we need training for the eyes, just like we need physiotherapy for the body. And that is what my book offers in 196 pages. I feel that if my book becomes known, there will be a huge change in what people will end up doing for themselves. They will not wait for a vision problem; they will work hard to prevent it from ever appearing in their life."

"Your body is very powerful," Schneider went on to say. "The resources of your body are waiting for you to tap them. This book will give you inspiration and tools to overcome your vision problems, or learn to adjust to severe vision problems if you cannot change your condition."

Will the author and teacher offer eye exercise examples during his book signing at Florey's?

"That is the only way I present," he stated with gusto. "A picture is worth words, and a demonstration is worth a thousand pictures. In every one of my demonstrations people see better. And for that reason, they become enthused and want to work on themselves. The book then becomes very alive in them. I am very happy to see a great change in them."

Saturday, October 5, 2 to 4 p.m., author and educator Meir Schneider will be at Florey's Book Co., 2120 Palmetto Avenue, Pacifica (www.floreysbooks.blogspot.com) to sign and discuss "Vision for Life — Ten Steps to Natural Eyesight Improvement." The book has received high marks from August Reader III, MD, FACS, Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology, California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco.